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A few weeks ago, I was interviewing one of North Carolina's senior Democratic statesmen for my upcoming biography of former Gov. Jim Martin. Not surprisingly, the interview occasionally veered from the political events of 20 years ago to the political events of 2013.
Published: Wednesday, July 17th, 2013 @ 1:49 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Liberal politicians, activists, and commentators have spent months prodding, baiting, and criticizing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-led state legislature. While occasionally goading their targets into making unwise comments, the obstructionists have failed to keep...
Published: Saturday, July 13th, 2013 @ 11:47 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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The modern-day conservatives who inhabit the General Assembly, the executive branch, and other institutions believe that the state's best days still lay ahead. But they recognize that North Carolina's traditional public policies have to change before progress is possible.
Published: Wednesday, July 10th, 2013 @ 11:38 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Liberal politicians, left-wing activists, and political commentators have spent months prodding, baiting, and criticizing new Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-led state legislature. While occasionally goading their targets into making unwise comments, the obstructionists have...
Published: Tuesday, July 9th, 2013 @ 12:13 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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In Raleigh, the conservatives are confidently progressive and the progressives are desperately conservative. The modern-day conservatives who inhabit the General Assembly, the executive branch...
Published: Monday, July 1st, 2013 @ 1:59 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The most likely outcome of tax reform negotiations in the North Carolina General Assembly is a plan that would lead to average annual state revenue growth of 3.2 percent to 3.9 percent. That's a key finding in a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report.
Published: Thursday, June 20th, 2013 @ 11:21 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Life, the old saying goes, is best thought of as a journey, not a destination. When it comes to reforming North Carolina's tax code, however, I'd say the reverse is true. The journey may have been messy over the past few months, as state lawmakers and policy analysts pitched and debated various...
Published: Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 @ 1:53 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Life, the old saying goes, is best thought of as a journey, not a destination. When it comes to reforming North Carolina's tax code, however, I'd say the reverse...
Published: Sunday, June 16th, 2013 @ 11:08 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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The North Carolina House has officially approved its tax-reform bill. It would create a 5.9 percent flat income tax -- replacing the current rates...
Published: Thursday, June 13th, 2013 @ 12:12 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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If reforming North Carolina's tax code were easy, one of the many tax-reform efforts of the past 20 years would have succeeded. Didn't happen.
Published: Thursday, June 6th, 2013 @ 10:40 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Just about every political cause in Raleigh is being pitched as a spur to economic growth. It's easy to see why. North Carolina continues to post...
Published: Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 @ 6:27 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Does state tax policy affect state economic growth? Fiscal conservatives tend to say yes. Fiscal liberals tend to say no.
Published: Monday, May 27th, 2013 @ 5:20 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Last week, I assessed the tax reform plan offered by Senate leader Phil Berger and his colleagues. While crediting the Senate plan for setting the proper goals...
Published: Monday, May 20th, 2013 @ 12:02 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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If you can get beyond the horribly dated technology and the occasional lapse into hippie-inspired silliness, the classic late-1960s libertarian-themed television
Published: Sunday, May 5th, 2013 @ 7:50 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Fiscal conservatism comes naturally to me. After all, my middle name is McDonald.
Published: Friday, April 26th, 2013 @ 11:41 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Is New York City a better place to work than Charlotte? It depends on your priorities. For many people, the Big Apple with all its glamour and glitz may be...
Published: Wednesday, April 24th, 2013 @ 5:32 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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For a group of people who claim to believe in empirical study and higher learning, liberal politicians and other critics of North Carolina's new...
Published: Thursday, April 18th, 2013 @ 8:03 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Over the years, I've become increasingly convinced that future gains in freedom and prosperity for North Carolina will only follow gains in appreciation of the past - of the people, events, and ideas that form our constitutional heritage.
Published: Friday, March 22nd, 2013 @ 5:06 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Whether the setting is Raleigh or Washington, the tax reform debate will inevitably come down to one Big Question: Are you willing to trade current tax preferences for lower marginal tax rates?
Published: Thursday, March 14th, 2013 @ 4:52 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The last week of February must have been a slow news period, because all we seemed to hear about was a heated discussion between Gene Sperling and Bob Woodward.
Published: Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 @ 8:07 am
By: Jim Bispo
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Although Raleigh is a much different state capital than it was when I started writing about politics in the late 1980s - the ratios of plaids to pinstripes...
Published: Monday, February 4th, 2013 @ 8:35 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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As you may know, the John Locke Foundation has just published a new book - First in Freedom: Transforming Ideas into Consequences for North Carolina - that proposes a new tax system for our state.
Published: Sunday, January 27th, 2013 @ 5:05 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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In response to four years of massive federal deficits, tax cuts scheduled to expire this month, and lackluster economic growth.
Published: Saturday, January 12th, 2013 @ 6:08 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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The world is full of imponderables. We have been treated over the last year or so to a seemingly unending diatribe about the need for the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes (whatever that is).
Published: Sunday, January 6th, 2013 @ 4:50 am
By: Jim Bispo
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A trillion-dollar sequestration that immediately would cut large portions of domestic and military spending likely will be deferred until budget architects can put together a long-term fiscal plan in the new Congress, U.S. Rep. David Price said Monday.
Published: Thursday, November 22nd, 2012 @ 6:30 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Has anyone ever heard of Chester Barnard?? Probably not, so I'll tell you who he was.
Published: Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 @ 10:10 am
By: Jim Bispo
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Two of the top issues facing new North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and the General Assembly in 2013 are tax reform and education reform. For the performance of North Carolina's economy to improve significantly in the short run, we need a more competitive tax system.
Published: Monday, November 19th, 2012 @ 11:27 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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President Gerald Ford once quipped in the middle of a presidential debate, "It was my understanding that there would be no math."
Published: Thursday, October 18th, 2012 @ 5:21 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Sometimes the truth hurts, and there's no way to hide it. The latest Economic Freedom of the World Report, which ranks 144 nations, constitutes such a moment for those of us who cherish freedom in the United States.
Published: Saturday, October 6th, 2012 @ 11:16 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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I don't find the structure of North Carolina's tax code to be at all surprising. I find it confusing, destructive, unfair, and absurd, as do most folks who have ever studied it. But no one should ever be surprised that tax systems are screwy.
Published: Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 @ 12:40 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Well, Mitt Romney has finally released his 2011 tax return, all 379 pages of it. Yes, 379 pages!! And now we are going to start hearing about all the "bad" things he did and "good" things he didn't do in his return.
Published: Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 @ 4:10 pm
By: Jim Bispo
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While the national Democratic ticket is enjoying a modest lift in the polls after the convention in Charlotte, the party's gubernatorial nominee, Walter Dalton, remains significantly behind Republican Pat McCrory.
Published: Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 @ 11:31 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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North Carolina's entire "economic development policy" should be replaced with "economic growth policy."
Published: Sunday, September 2nd, 2012 @ 7:44 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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This week marks the start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will be named the GOP ticket for November's election. We already know that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be the Democratic ticket.
Published: Monday, August 27th, 2012 @ 11:35 pm
By: Diane Rufino
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